Elizabeth Cole

It is an
amazing coincidence that there were two young women who came to Australia on
the First Fleet and were named Elizabeth Cole.

This was
at first most confusing, but eventually we found proof of which one was ours and her whole story fitted
together.

We have
been told that our Elizabeth Cole was baptised on 25 May 1762 in the Parish
Church of the small Devon village of Lamerton, not far from the western edge of
Dartmoor and her parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Cole.

These
bare facts tell us nothing of Elizabeth’s history. She was most probably
illiterate and her family poor, perhaps her parents died when she was young,
leaving her to fend for herself.

Perhaps
she was just a high-spirited young girl who rebelled against authority and the
injustice of a society where there was no education or help for the poor – a
society that gave so much to the fortunate few and so little to the rest of the
people.

Whatever
her circumstance she seems to have been an unruly girl who found herself in
trouble with authority and on 15 September 1785 she was committed for trial:

…for feloniously breaking and entering the dwelling house of William Cox between 10 and 11 in the forenoon no person being therein and stealing thereabout one woman’s stuff gown val. 7s and other goods value 5 pounds 9s the property of Jane Cox spinster

Elizabeth
was tried at the Devon Lent Assizes, held at Exeter on 20 March 1786 before Sir
James Eyre and Sir Beaumont Hotham. House -breaking, guilty value 4s, to be
transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years.

Elizabeth Cole, together with 88
male and 19 other female convicts, sailed on the Charlotte, departing Portsmouth on 13 May 1787.

Apparently,
Elizabeth Cole was still unruly, for on the 11 August in Rio de Janeiro she and
5 others from the Charlotte were
exchanged for 6 quieter women on the Friendship.

Also, on
board the Friendship was the marine
William Ellis, who we believe came from the same district in Devon as Elizabeth
Cole.

At last
on 19 January 1788 the Friendship and
all other vessels of the fleet arrived at the shores of Botany Bay, which was
an epic achievement of navigation, because not only did those 11 small ships
arrive safely at their destination, they all arrived within a few hours.

However,
Botany Bay proved to be unsuitable for a settlement, as parts of the land was
swampy and supply of fresh water was poor, and though the bay was extensive
there was no shelter from the easterly winds and ships of moderate draught
would always have to in an exposed situation.

The fleet
moved to Port Jackson, arriving there on 26 January 1788.

The next
we hear of Elizabeth, it is 10 August 1789 and we read of the christening of a
child, Thomas Cole, the son of Elizabeth and Marine Private William Ellis, who
Lieutenant Clark described as an honest man.

In the
meantime, when Captain Phillip was given his orders for establishing the new
colony, he was told also to establish a small settlement on Norfolk Island, to
prevent its occupation by any other European country.

Elizabeth
Cole with her young son Thomas, together with 96 men, 65 women and 25 other
children were transported there on the Sirius arriving 13 March 1790 and proceeded to the place now known as Cascade, on the
northern leeward side of the island.

First Fleet at Botany Bay from An Historic Retrospect on the occasion of the 150th Anniversary Celebration of the Foundation of Australia for the schoolchildren of NSW

Elizabeth
had another child named Maria, born on 27 December 1795, after marrying a James
Tucker, but she left him and moved in with a Richard Burrows – James Tucker
died on 4 December 1807.

Richard
Cornelius Burrows was born in Northamptonshire in about 1759, and on 14 July 1787
he was imprisoned in the county gaol awaiting trial for trail for stealing one
ewe hoggrell (a year-old sheep).

Richard
was sentenced to be transported for the term of seven years and arrived in
Sydney on 29 June 1790, as part of the Second Fleet on board the Scarborough, and in September 1791
Richard was transported to Norfolk Island.

On 13
June 1798 another child was born to Elizabeth and this time it was the son of
Richard Burrows, named after his father.

By this
time Elizabeth and Richard had now completed their sentences, whatever they had
done in England was behind them and they could look forward to the future in a
brand-new land.

They
remained together and two more children were born, Ann on 8 May1800 and John on
7 March 1803.

In 1800 a
Protestant clergyman, the reverend Henry Fulton arrived from Ireland to act as
Chaplain on Norfolk.

And so,
it was that Elizabeth’s four younger children were baptised by Henry Fulton on 10
April 1803, Thomas had been baptised in Sydney.

The
details of the next part of the story are not clear, but somehow Richard
Burrows acquired the land that had been granted to a William Syms, which was 60
acres of good land in the centre of the island.

Anyone
visiting today will find it quite easy to locate as it fronts the main road
between Kingston and the town of Burnt Pine.

In June
1803 Governor King received orders from England that because of the cost of
maintaining the settlement on Norfolk some of the settlers would be moved from
there to Van Diemen’s Land.

On 3
September 1808 the Burrows family transferred to Hobart on the sailing ship City ofEdinburgh and were married by the Reverend Robert Knopwood on 25
February 1810 after cohabiting together for fourteen years.

On 20
September 1813 Richard Burrows received a grant of 40 acres of land at
Glenorchy on the banks of the Derwent River.

Richard
drowned on 27 February 1818, when the boat he operated capsized in the Derwent
River while ferrying 12 passengers. His
body was picked up within a few yards of his house at Black Snake on 10
March. The Coroner’s inquest
immediately convened to view the body.
Verdict Drowned by Accident. He was
buried the same day, and followed to the grave by his widow and four children
and a number of Norfolk Island settlers.

Elizabeth
Cole Burrows died of natural causes on 31 January 1821. Both are registered at St David’s Hobart.

The following is a brief excerpt
from a book written by Lorraine Lister and submitted by her cousin Lance
Summergreene.

The book is titled And So they Came, and includes the
families of Burrows, Stansalls, Griffiths, Staples and Tilley.

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